Monday, October 24, 2011

Little Rock Mayor's Car-Free Challenge

Let's go ride a bike!

Mayor Stodola is going car-free from November 5-11 and challenges everyone else in Little Rock to do the same. Basic rules: you can walk, bike, ride pubic transit, skateboard, wheelchair, etc., but just can't use a car. He's kicking things off with a "learning fair" at the River Market pavilion on Sunday, October 30, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

This is a great idea! It'll go a long way toward easing people's aversion to riding CAT, will get more folks thinking about bikes as actual transportation instead of just recreation, and most importantly will show everyone who participates just how incredibly far we have to go here in Central Arkansas before our infrastructure even begins to support car-free or car-lite living. Maybe this will spark some meaningful debate about how to spend some of that extra $500 million in sales tax revenue coming our way over the next 10 years so that we don't repeat the mistakes of the last 20. Complete streets anyone? Maybe some form based codes or Smart Codes instead of old-fashioned, outdated Euclidean zoning? Can we work toward making Little Rock a Strong Town? We're great at building wide roads that people can drive fast on, but what about building world class bike infrastructure?

Or maybe it'll just be a fun thing for people to try to do for a week. I know it will be for me.

I also have to add, in my humble opinion, that Little Rock has by far the coolest bike logo if anyone anywhere. It just makes you want to ride, no?

Bike lane markings are supposed to be more or less standard. Think of the poor touring cyclist trying to ride across the state or nationa and figure out cryptic bike-lane markings that were different for every town. Ours were removed and replaced with a more standard symbol just for clarity, and to conform to a national standard.

Sad, I know. I miss them too. But there WAS a decent reason for the change.

I am living in Minnesota and got two years of probation.. I am planning on moving to Arkansas. Can my probation carry over into Arkansas? Or do I HAVE to stay in Minnesota? I am wondering if this is at all possible.